The major AI search tool Perplexity has said it won’t continue with ads in its AI chatbot interface over fears it will erode user trust.
The move comes after the company tested sponsored advertising in 2024 and soon after phased them out in the same year.
The move shows that for some AI companies, not having ads in order to maintain reputation and customer trust is more valuable than having brands pay for sponsored ad slots.
With ads, some believe users might trust the outputs from AI tools less with ads a part of the user experience. A Perplexity executive said that “a user needs to believe this is the best possible answer.”
Perplexity has said subscriptions are the main part of its business model, offering tiers between $20 and $200 dollars.
In November 2024, Perplexity also introduced shopping features that would let users get product recommendations and purchase within its interface.
To Advertise, or Not to Advertise?
Over the past few weeks, there has been ongoing discussion on whether AI companies ought to put ads in their conversational interface.
OpenAI last week started to test ads in ChatGPT, which was scrutinised by some online audiences and its competitor Anthropic.
Anthropic famously announced it wouldn’t be putting ads in its Claude chatbot, saying that Claude is a “space to think” and ads threaten disrupting this user experience.
Simultaneously, Anthropic created a series of commercials for the NFL Super Bowl poking fun at how user experience with AI chatbots would suffer because of in-chat advertising.
This was widely seen as a pointed remark towards rival ChatGPT, which led OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to respond on X, calling the adverts “dishonest” and saying the company would “never run ads in the way Anthropic depicts them”.
Perplexity additionally taking the stance of no ads hints that, currently, some major AI companies see the value in not surfacing ads to maintain steady use of their product.
